Frantically, they threw his belongings into plastic bags, flung them onto his pickup truck, and headed to the nearest state border-Texas.Īs they sped away, Bauer was surprised to find himself feeling sad. The three snuck out through a side door and drove back to Bauer’s apartment. Sure enough, the next morning, Bauer spotted officers from the prison staking out the hotel lobby. The videographer relayed that, while authorities hadn’t mentioned Bauer’s name, they seemed to be onto him. Then he and Shourd picked up West, who’d been released on bond.

In the morning, Bauer shipped his hard drives home. In the middle of the night, Bauer and his wife, Sarah Shourd, packed up his reporting materials and checked into a hotel in another town. Worse, his hard-won notes and recordings could be confiscated. If his cover was blown, a sheriff’s deputy could be coming to arrest him. Videos of Bauer talking about his undercover gig were all over his camera. West was in jail, accused of trespassing. When they dialed West’s number, the local sheriff answered. Had officials there discovered that Bauer wasn’t just a regular guard, but an investigative reporter from San Francisco? That he’d spent the past four months secretly documenting conditions at Winn with an audio recorder and camera hidden in his pen and wristwatch? His colleague from the magazine Mother Jones, James West, hadn’t returned from shooting nighttime footage of the private prison where Bauer worked. shift at the Winn Correctional Center in Winnfield, Louisiana, his wife shook him awake. Seven hours before Shane Bauer was to start his 6 a.m.

Shane bauer american prison